If you’ve ever gotten a piercing before (and I’m sure most of you have or you wouldn’t be here reading this), you’re probably aware that when you first get a piercing, your initial jewelry is longer or bigger than you originally thought it was going to be. This is to accommodate any swelling that occurs. If the jewelry is too short initially, excess swelling can cause irritation and other problems. The piece can become embedded in the skin, which is just no fun for the client! Continue reading

Ear piercing has been a part of many cultures and traditions for a very long time. Most people who have their ears pierced usually had them pierced at a very young age, so young perhaps that they don’t even remember it happening. This could be viewed as a positive. Getting a piercing can be anxiety inducing and being young enough to not remember might be a good idea… right? Well, possibly. Continue reading

Healing piercings can be a difficult process. Some piercings take a while to fully heal and there can be problems that arise during the process, regardless of how well you care for it. Sometimes, things just happen. When you have an angry piercing, it can be tempting to use harsher chemicals on the irritation to attempt to make it go away. It may seem like this is the correct course of action but I’m here to tell you that it is not. There are quite a few things that we have seen clients put on their piercings that should absolutely be avoided. By putting something harsh on your irritated piercing, you’re going to end up making things worse. So here are five products that you shouldn’t put on your piercing because chances are it’s going to do more harm than good.

Rubbing Alcohol
Have you ever put rubbing alcohol on a cut? If you haven’t, you haven’t experienced the absolute horror that is rubbing alcohol. It hurts. And while it may be cleaning and killing the bad stuff, it’s also taking out the new skin cells that are forming inside the piercing channel (also known as a fistula). If these new cells are killed before they can mature and become stronger, the piercing will remain irritated and angry for far longer than it should.

Hydrogen Peroxide
Much like rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide is incredibly harsh. It kills germs and bacteria but again, also manages to kill a decent amount of healthy skin cells that are forming around the piercing. An added downside of putting hydrogen peroxide on a piercing, especially if you get pierced with us, is that hydrogen peroxide actually can change the color of implant grade titanium. The solution will actually discolor the titanium! It will turn the silver material a dark greyish color. With the price of titanium being so high, you definitely don’t want to be discoloring your jewelry with hydrogen peroxide. Avoid using this on your piercings for the sake of your piercing and your wallet!

Aspirin Paste
The internet really took this one and ran with it. This recipe is extremely harsh. If used incorrectly (and it often is), this concoction can cause chemical burns on the skin. So yes, it may take away that pesky bump on your piercing but it’s actually going to singe your skin and cause burns. Please, do NOT use aspirin paste on irritated piercings. Out of all of the things that people put on their piercings to try to lower irritation, this has to be one of the worst substances that you can possibly use.

Tea Tree Oil
Most people aren’t super familiar with how to use essential oils and unfortunately, a lot of people don’t use them correctly. While tea tree oil may have beneficial effects on some things in life, piercings are not one of them. This essential oil is very intense and if just placed directly on a piercing, it can cause severe irritation. It’s a good idea to stay away from essential oils on your piercings, especially if you’re not totally familiar on how to use them.

Ointments
There are a good amount of people who assume that when you get a piercing, it’s much like getting a cut or scrape. But the truth is, piercings are puncture wounds. They heal differently than a cut or a scrape because your body is trying to heal a wound with jewelry inside of it. Many products in the first aid section of pharmacies say specifically that they are not to be used on puncture wounds, simply because that’s not what they’re intended for. These products tend to contain intense chemicals, numbing agents, cooling components, and other things that will end up causing problems. Additionally, ointment is very sticky and can trap germs and bacteria right next to your new piercing, opening up a whole new world of issues for you.

When you get pierced with us, we go over all of our aftercare with you so you know exactly how to take care of your new adornment. If we have a client with an angry piercing, it reflects badly on us. It’s our goal to provide high quality jewelry and happy, healthy piercings. If you have any questions about the aftercare that you’re using and you want to check to see if you’re taking care of things correctly, don’t be afraid to stop by. We are here to help!

Most of our clients are very familiar with the fact that our shop owner, Jon Thomas, loves animals. Cooper, Jon’s pitbull, is always following him around, stealing attention everywhere he goes. At the annual Live Free Or Die Tattoo Expo, the Friends Of the Manchester Animal Shelter set up a booth and accept donations, put on raffles, and even bring well behaved dogs available for adoption! Continue reading

Many of our clients have questions when they come to see us. It’s understandable, there’s a lot of things to ask about in this profession! We spend a lot of time learning how to perfect our craft and trust me, we love talking about how we do things! Your piercer should be ready to answer any question you have to make you feel the most comfortable. Continue reading

One of the most complicated (and yet basic) types of tattoo is lettering. It can be extremely difficult to execute correctly and is one of the most sought after styles of tattoo today. Lettering can be used to remember a person, a favorite quote, or a special date. However, getting the right artist to do your lettering tattoo can be difficult. Continue reading

If you’ve been sleeping on our Facebook, you probably haven’t noticed that our apprentice Morgan is cruising along in her studies to become a fully licensed piercer! She’s now offering numerous piercings and doing wonderfully! We’re happy with how far she’s come since starting back in the beginning of 2017. So we decided to try to let people know that we have an awesome piercer here that’s performing piercings at a discount just so that she can gain experience! Continue reading

Recently, Pintrest/Tumblr/Facebook have been flooded with videos of lovely tattoos that look like a watercolor painting. They are soft and colorful, with drippy looking details that people have fallen in love with. While tattoos usually focus on saturating specific areas with color, watercolor tattoos are created with a more gradual coloring technique. Continue reading

Obviously, we love piercings! We would never have chosen this career if we didn’t love what we do! And since we love what we do so much, there are some piercings that we just won’t perform here at Spider-Bite Body Piercing (and for good reasons). There are some piercings that can be done but won’t heal right or can have serious effects on the anatomy. Continue reading

Our piercers work very hard to make sure that our clients are taken care of but do you know why they do what they do? Our piercers Morgan and Farley work great together to bring clients amazing jewelry and happy, healthy piercings. If you haven’t met our piercers yet, this blog will introduce you to M, our current apprentice! She has been with us for about a year and a half and is getting so close to finishing her apprenticeship! We had her answer a few questions so clients could get to know her a bit better! Continue reading